Category Archives: Sir John Williams

Well I would hazard that it is the classic ‘whodunit’, it is also the setting of poverty and squalor which all tied up in the literature of the time from Dickens to Conan-Doyle.

So to add to all this we have Tony Williams, 49, Sir John Williams great-great-great-great nephew.

He has now published a book which features the startling image of the knife, supposedly used by he ripper, his relative’s.

The Welsh surgeon Sir John Williams was a chief suspect in the Victorian murders. Sir John or ‘Uncle Jack’ as he was known to his family was (and more importantly) the surgeon to Queen Victoria who was living in London at the time of the slayings. Sir John Williams removed himself from the capital after the murders.

Back to the present day, it appears that Tony Williams has unearthed the old black-handled surgeon’s knife which he used for operations and believes it could be the murder weapon, but then again he was a surgeon and I’m sure that he had several knifes as tools of the trade so to speak.

The knife was among a number of possessions left by the Welshman which included three glass slides which contains smears of a uterus.

Mr Williams told The Telegraph:

”Why would he leave this behind? I am convinced that this is the knife used by Sir John Williams to murder those women. ”It is widely know that the person who carried out the killings would have had significant medical knowledge. ”Sir John Williams was an accomplished surgeon and routinely performed abortions on women. He held surgeries all over London at the time of the murders.” He added: ”Dr Thomas Bond, a pathologist who examined the body of Mary Kelly, said the ripper had used the same six inch knife in all the murders. ”He said it would have been at least six inches long, very sharp, pointed at the top and about an inch in width – a surgeon’s knife. ”This is the knife that fits the description that I’ve held in my hand back in the National Library of Wales.”

Tony Williams claims that the possessions including an old diary, the knife and some glass slides prove his ‘Uncle Jack’ had the medical expertise and motive for the murders.

He went to tell the Telegraph:

”I looked through the possessions that he left and found the knife along with three glass slides. ”The smears on the glass slides have been tested and are confirmed as being matter from the uterus. ”I know Sir John was obsessed by the fact that his wife, Mary Hughes, could not have children. I think that was his motive.” He added: ”I think he was a Jekyll and Hyde-type character who may have been driven to commit murder because his wife could not have children. He was also known to be working on a cure for his wife’s problem.”

So another theory to add to the ever-growing list and tine continue to feed our fascination with the most infamous serial killer of all time.